single-handed rescue of Amoret from the house of
Busirane. In the 1590 conclusion, Scudamour
(betrothed to Amoret) is reunited with his bride. In the
1596 conclusion, this reunion is deferred because when
Britomart and Amoret come out of the house, Scu-
damour is not there, having left for help because he
feared a mishap had befallen Britomart inside the house.
With the original ending, Spenser concludes the book
triumphantly and resolutely; with the 1596 version, he
projects further complications to the adventures of Scu-
damour and Amoret, complications that would con-
tinue in Book 4 (and to some extent in Book 5).
In the proem to Book 4, Spenser defends himself
from the charges made against the 1590 edition that
his depictions of love lead youths to folly. Conse-
quently, Book 4, “the book of Friendship,” is often
read as a continuation of, or at least a response to,
Book 3. An episode-by-episode comparison between
them shows a running analogy between the legends for
sexual and social love, which exhibit similar internal
contiguities. Book 4 is not merely similar to Book 3,
but connected with it as its continuation. Unlike the
other books, however, Book 4 does not center on the
adventures of one knight; the book is titled as “Con-
tayning the Legend of Cambel and Telamond, or
Friendship,” but it features a plurality of heroic pro-
tagonists. Many critics defi ne it as a tale told by story-
telling in that Book 4 is not the story of one character
but the stories of many characters. Its unifying quality
lies in that every story revolves around the philosophi-
cal inquiry of love and friendship, marriage and loneli-
ness. Book 4 also marks the beginning of the last half
of Spenser’s epic. Characteristic of this half, the book
ends less resolutely than the fi rst three (evident in the
1596 ending of Book 3): The adventures are often
interrupted or fi nished inconclusively.
Book 5 represents this trend most especially. “The
Legend of Justice” has been for many modern readers
the least-liked book of Spenser’s epic. Part of the repul-
sion is due to its historical allegory, which is a justifi ca-
tion of England’s imperialism over Ireland. The central
knight of the book, Artegall, does not come from his-
tory, legend, or mythology; he is Spenser’s creation
and is traditionally thought to be the fi ctional repre-
sentation of Lord Grey de Wilton (to whom Spenser
was secretary in Ireland). Lord Grey was a staunch
believer in the inherent barbarity of the Irish, and he
wished to pursue a religious war in Ireland to stamp
out Catholicism, which he believed to be the source of
Irish wickedness. He believed the only way to imple-
ment a Protestant order in Ireland was to convert the
people “by the sword” (much like Artegall’s philoso-
phy for meting out justice at 5.3.20). The Irish, repre-
sented in the poem by giants, tyrants, and scattered
dishonorable knights and villagers, stand as the great-
est threat to justice. These allegorical, destructive forces
in Book 5 can only be combated by a knight who is as
dangerous as the “villains” themselves: Sir Artegall, the
knight of justice. With Artegall is Talus, the inhuman
“yron man” who represents the English army under
Grey’s command.
Drawing from the poetic theory of SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
(that poetry presents a “golden” world), Spenser dem-
onstrates in Book 5 his vision of what England’s for-
eign policy “should have been.” Evidently, Spenser
agreed with Grey that the only way the Irish could be
reformed was “by the sword,” which is exactly the
manner in which Artegall executes justice (conse-
quently, what was not supported in Britain is sup-
ported in Faerie land). Talus is endowed with superior
strength, and to complete his role as the unfeeling
executioner, he is inhuman and unmoved by human
emotion or reason. In the fi nal episode of the book,
Artegall meets his archenemy Grantorto (Italian, “great
wrong”), who seems to be the representation of all the
corruptive forces in 16th-century Ireland: the rebels,
the Catholic Church, and even the savagery of the
Irish. This representation is implied by the fact that
Grantorto’s crime is the unlawful imprisonment of
Irena, which means “Ireland” (the feminine form of
the Greek word eirene). In the rescue scene that
ensues, the colonial dream is played out and the
“white lie” of the colonists is given credence. Irena,
the “damsel in distress” and the fi guration of Ireland,
is saved from impending doom by Artegall and Talus,
or Lord Grey and the English imperial army. After
Grantorto is killed, Artegall and Talus begin to reform
the commonwealth, but they are called back to Faerie
Court before they can complete the reformation. As
they return, they meet with Envy, Detraction, and theFAERIE QUEENE, THE 177